This is not "news", in that we don't need an "ally" to confirm what we already know. Trump has bluntly said this many times himself: His second term is going to be all about consolidating power, installing authoritarianism, and revenge. He has openly said he is going to have people arrested, news networks shut down, etc.

Identifying his motives isn't the problem. Getting people to care is the problem. Worse, trying to overcome the "Yeah, we know, we want it that way" crowd that for some reason seems to be growing.

Take a look at his rallies. It's not even the usual MAGA signs any more. "Peace through strength." I mean, if that isn't directly taken straight out of 1984 or some authoritarian handbook somewhere, I don't know what is.

Let's face it. if American voters wind up supporting a candidacy that is putting messages like this out there, it is going to be because they WANT fascism. These folks aren't hiding anything.

Did he not try to do the exact same thing the first time around?

Maybe the media shouldn't give him such a fucking giant platform to spout his garbage then?

The media following everything he says and writing a story about every time he steps foot outside maralago is what gave him his first presidency. They're doing the exact same thing the second time around.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

NEW YORK (AP) — A Donald Trump ally who worked in his Justice Department said Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his administration will retaliate against people in the media “criminally or civilly.”

Kash Patel, who was also chief of staff in the Defense Department and held a role on the National Security Council, made the comment on Steve Bannon’s podcast.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed the election was stolen, despite the fact that numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.

In his interview with Bannon, Patel said: “We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.

In a post on his Truth Social network in September, Trump repeated both phrases and vowed to investigate NBC News and MSNBC for “Country Threatening Treason” and try to curb their access to the airwaves.

“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,” Trump said in the post.

The original article contains 607 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 64%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!